Formation and alignment for Hydrophilic–Hydrophobic Lamellar Structure in Liquid Crystalline Random Copolymer having mesogens and oligoethylene oxide side chains

Abstract

We synthesized a liquid crystalline random copolymer having azobenzene mesogen and oligo ethylene oxide side chains (P6AzAC-r-PEO4.5MA). P6AzAC-r-PEO4.5MA exhibits smectic liquid crystal (LC) phase. Grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) measurement revealed that the smectic lamellar structure was formed in parallel to the substrate plane in P6AzAC-r-PEO4.5MA thin films. We prepared the P6AzAC-r-PEO4.5MA film with addition of poly(octadecyl methacrylate)-blockpoly(azobenzene methacrylate) (PODMA-b-P5Az10MA). In the resulting film, it was found that surface segregation of added-PODMA-b-P5Az10MA layer induced vertical aligned lamella structure of P6AzAC-r-PEO4.5MA by GISAXS measurement.